Street-indicator for cars.



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' 3.15 a detail of the STATES PATENT orrron.

JAMES A. 'WYTT AND JOHN SIMPSON, OF VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA., CANADA.

STREET-.IDICATOR F013.

LSSQS, Specification of Letters Patent. I Applicationnled January 27, 1912.

vatcnted Apr. 8,1 91h. serial No. 673,905.

To o?! ie/zom it' may concern.'

' lie it known that we, JAMES A. VVYAfrr and Joni: Snirsox, citizens of the Dominion or". Canada, residing at Vancouver, in the Province ot' British Columbia, Canada,4 have invented a new and useful Street-Indicator 'tortl'ai-S, of which the following is .a specification.

This invention-relates to a street indicator for cars and is designed to display the naine ot' the street atwhich the car is neXt to stop, the mechanisni to be automatically operable by the progress of the car and without the necessity of attentionby the conductor, thereby leaving him free to ated in a casing 10, the front of which is provided with an elongated glazed aperture 1l through which the next street naine is displayed.

The operating roller ot' the cndlessband 2 is moved through the distance necessary .to exposesuccessively the various street names by the following mechanism: ts axle 12 is carried through the casingr at one end and has va quick pitch screw thread 13 eatin it on which thread nuts l-t and l5 are endwise movable against the resistance of springs 1G. Between these nuts 14 and 15 isintroduced the downwardly turned end 17'of a bar 1S `which is secured -to the core 1f) ot the 'solenoids 21 or 22 so as to be endwise 'movable with thatI core as it is drawn within the coil. rlhesc coils are energized .by an electric current drawn from the trolley wire when contact wtlrit is made in a particular manner to be later described.

The faces of thel nuts 14 and l5 with which the downwardly turnedfcnd 17 en gages, are providedwith ratchet teeth 20 which will prevent rotation of the nutand compel rotation of the screw when eithernut is moved from its normal position against the resistance of the spring '16, but when the solenoid core 19 and its Contact bar 1S are returned to their normal central position by the spring S the nut let4 or 15 in returning to its the ratchet form of the teeth, free to rotate, so that it will not rotate the screw 12 and the actuating roller lbackward from the position it was turned to by the outward movement.. y The current to energize either solenoid 21 or is derived from a contact 25 secured to the trolley wire 9 and projecting upward therefrom a suiiicient distance to clear the Aflange. of the trolley wheel and The mcchanisn'i ot' the invention., which is the subject ot this application is operated electrically from a special contact provision with the trolley wire, which contactI means is adapted to operate the mechanism in either direction, so that, if pcrchance,acar is required to return on the tracli for a short distance after having passed the contact by which the next street naine is exhibited, return past that. contact will move the mechanism backward.

The invention is particularly described in the following specification, reference being made to the drawings by which it is accompanied, in which: A

liligure 1 is a face view and part section on the line A A in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line B .B in Fig. 1. Fig. operating contact jon trolley wire and trolley pole head. Fig. 4 is an 'end view-of the same. Fig. 5 is a plan of a street railway showingI the position ot the operating contacts torI each direction of movement. Fig. G is a detail face View of the nut by which the endless band roller is rotated. Fig. 'i' is a diagrammatic view ojt the circuits involved.

ln these (.lrawings 2 represents an endless band et flexible. material on which the street naines oftheJ-oute are printed in sequence. lhis band 2 passes over two main rollers 3 and 4C ot which is the operating roller. lin order to increase the length oit the band, it may pass over various idlers 5, and a movable idler (5. may bc introduced by which the engaged by a contact, plate 26 or 27 secured on suitable insulation 28 maintained spring 32.

band may be maintained tight by support- Each contact plate 26 and 27 is independingn the bearings of this roller in an -elon- Yently connected by Wires 33, 34 which pass gated slot 7 and by providing a spring or by weighting the roller 6, The rollers over solenoids 21 or 22. When the car' is movwhich this endless band 2 passes are mounting in. the one direction cont-actI at the dethereatter bent laterallyso that it will beA down the trolley pole to one or other of thenormal Iposition is, by

nuts to rotate the o erative roller 3 and move the 'endless ban The provision of the two contact Aplates 26 and 27 separately connected to opposed` solenoids is to enable the car to be run backward without deranging the .order of the street names, as in running` backward the opposite Contact face 27 will make contact and energize the opposite solenoid to rotate `the mechanism backward. v i

The indicator during the return trip may beY reversed by a switclnthat will cross Aconnect the wires 33 34, but preferably the street naines on the endless will he arranged alternately with those vof the return trip, so that at`the end ot'` the jpurn-ey the conductor may move vthe rollers to the halfpitch to take the naines of the return trip in tlieir proper sequence and the4 movement of the mechanism will continue in',

the same direction.

'Ihe contact members are secured to the' trolley wire just fbeyond each street in thedirection of movement of the car, see Fig. 5, so that as soon as the car leaves orv passes one street the contacts will en age and the mechanism will be operated to passengers within the oar thename of the next street. i

Importance is attached tothe manner of mounting the contact plates 26 27 on'the trolley head, as the a'rm 30 which carries the contact lates will yield to the'impact and will be ragged under the contact 25 ofthe trolley wirexin electrical contact all the way.'-

Instead of deriving the operating current from the trolley wire, it may be ibnnd ad?, visable to provide a battery to operate the mechanism and govern the battery circuit by the current derived lfrom the trolley wire.

' Having now particularly described the invention and the manner of its operation, we hereby-declare .that what we claim as new and desire to be protected in by Letters Patent, is: f

l.v In a street indicator` for trolley cars, a casing having afdisplay aperture,.an endless band on which are the names of the streets which band is inclosetf in said casing, rollers including an actuating roller having an axle, means for operating the actuatingroller of this system to turn. the band in either direction said means comprising a prolongation of the axle of the actuating roller said-prolongation having a quick pitch screw thread eut in it, two nuts threaded on this screw and springs to maintain.

them in the approximate mid-length of the screw the adjacent faces of the nut having ratchet teeth, an endwise slidable bar two vcomprising :i screw isplay to the y fthe combination with an endless solenoids in axial alinement and having a common core to which said bar is connected, 6

said bar having a downwardly turned end which enters between the ad]acent faces of vthe two nuts, a Contact arm pivotally mounted on the head of the trolley pole and hav'- ineT plates insulated from the ar'ni and from one, another, a Contact projecting laterally from tlietr'olley wire, a spring maintaining saidtrolley arm in the upright position and means for electrically connecting each plate tothe coil of one of the solenoids.

2. Ina street indicator for trolley cars. the combination with an endless band on which the names of the streets are displayed and rollers which include an actuatingr .roller having an axle and over which said band passes, ot means for operating said actuating roller in either direction said moans thread on the axle oi" they roller on which screw thread are a plurality of nuts, springs maintaining the, nuts in apiedeterniined position, means tor end wise moving the nuts and for preventing their rotation electro loi'aerative means for actuating said last named nieans'including -meansf'whereby a' current may be supplied from the trolley wire by a temporary elec trical connection therewith.

3. In a. street indicator for trolley cars, band on which the3 naines of the streets are displayed, an,I actuating roller having a projecting journal including a screwed cnd over which roller said band passesnnieans for operating said' .actuating roller said means comprising acontact arm, two solenoids in axial alinenient with one another, the coils of whichare separately connected to opposite faces of said Contact arm, said contact arm being pivotally mounted on the head ot the trolley pole, ing from-the trolley wire, and an endwisc movable bar having a downwardly turned end, said soleiioids -liaving a common core which is secured to said endwise nio-:able bar, two nuts havingr ratchet faces toward the downwardly turned end of the bar to co voperate therewith` the nuts being threaded on said screw end of said journal, springs maintaining the solenoid core in the midposition of its movement, and springs maintaining the nuts toward the mid-position of the screw.

In testimony wheico't we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES wYA'rT. JOHN SIMPSON.

Witnesses RowLANn BiiirfrAiN, IVM. S. SoiiTAii.

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